Air conditioners which cool and heat a room have been known. Patent document 1 discloses a thermal storage air conditioner using a thermal storage medium. The thermal storage air conditioner has a refrigerant circuit to which a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, and an indoor heat exchanger are connected, and a thermal storage section which exchanges heat between a refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit and the thermal storage medium.
This air conditioner selectively performs: general cooling and heating operations in which a room is air conditioned without utilizing thermal storage energy; a cold thermal energy storage operation in which the thermal storage medium is cooled to store cold thermal energy; a cold-thermal-energy-utilization cooling operation in which the cold thermal energy stored in the thermal storage medium is utilized to cool the room; and a thermal-energy-utilization heating operation in which warm thermal energy stored in the thermal storage medium is utilized to heat the room. During these operations, the compressor is actuated so that the refrigerant circulates in the refrigerant circuit, thereby performing a refrigeration cycle.